From TV adaptations fittingly headed by Paul and Chris Weirtz-“Crying for Help, Reluctantly.” Forget the shining armor: in this sci-fi drama, can a protagonist who refuses heroism still win our hearts?
On May 16, “Murderbot” premieres with a 10-episode sci-fi thrill ride about how a security robot with a secret threatens to unravel a planetary mission. Murderbot, an almost shy-looking android, is guarding a survey team on an alien world full of deadly secrets through the transformation of Alexander Skarsgård. But Murderbot conceals another forbidden truth: it has hacked into its programming and hence possesses free will.
Imagine fighting existential dread, meanwhile concealing its sentience from humans whom it is sworn to protect, but that in itself makes it yearn to binge-watch 7,532 hours of pirated video content. Welcome to Murderbot. But this is no ordinary mission-interwoven with this is a little strange sojourn into identity, purpose, and far too many moments in which one can relate to a media junkie bot facing an endless void. So, we have a series filled with mayhem and madness along with introspection not even Murderbot is above some escapism.
Apple
Right from the get-go, the adaptation of “All Systems Red” for Apple TV+ was a marathon, not a sprint. Time flowed by slowly, initially snatched by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to be grabbed by the 2023 Writers Guild strike thereafter. There never really came a time that hope completely unflickered. Jamie Erlicht, known at Apple TV+ for being head of worldwide video, was somewhat of a Martha Wells fan himself, giving vocal support to the project. With Erlicht on their side, Paul and Chris battled through countless draft meetings, each draft then subjected to Wells’s careful scrutiny. Wells’s consulting producer role even trickled over from the script, with her keen eye helping define everything from the look of the show to the perfect casting choices.
Being faithful to the source material never implies a mere regurgitation; instead, Murderbot closely adapts “All Systems Red” and elevates it. The main plot remains faithful to the novella, while the series revitalizes the support characters. Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) is no longer just a scientist; she is a hard leader faced with impossible choices. Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) steps away from his imposed stoicism to present himself as a layered character. Pin-lee (Sabrina Wu), Ratthi (Akshay Khanna), Arada (Tattiawna Jones), and Bharadwaj (Tamara Podemski) are no longer just faces in a survey group-they carry with them deep backstories and complex motivations, making the entire protective mission of Murderbot all the more compelling.
The Preservation Alliance, within whose turf lies PresAux, has gone downright weird. Just imagine Burning Man meets intergalactic diplomacy. Picture this in Murderbot’s premiere: a solemn ring of PresAux members, eyes shut tight, holding hands in some trance-like meditation, severely pondering whether to spring for therefurbishedMurderbot for their perilous mission. Now take it to a forlorn intergalactic planet, and these diplomats are all swirly robes lost at a desert rave, flailing across to an alien rhythm. The seed of such cosmic free spirit came from Chris’ twenty years being forged in the fiery crucible of Burning Man. Oh, and side note: numerous ones and twos of them are knee-deep in a messy and dramatic jungle of polyamorous relationships. Buckle up.
Chris tells Engadget that a major underpinning of this method was to drop these characters into alien territory, far beyond the reach of their familiar social structures. Imagine a fraternity of dedicated egalitarians suddenly thrust into the heart of the “corporate rim”―a ruthless, profit-driven world. The corporate drones see this group as misfits, while even Murderbot, himself a jaded and cynical being, recognizes and nearly sympathizes with this adjunct to their already tenuous existence.
Forget saving the galaxy; Murderbot is obsessed withThe Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon. It is a gloriously bad sci-fi soap opera. This reference goes further than being a mere allusion; Martha Wells has given this campy universe the full treatment. Think ofStar Trekwith extra cotton-candy vibes and a ton of meta-humor: bright sets, costumes that scream “future,” yet give an ironic wink to the past, and John Cho as a lovelorn starship captain hopelessly smitten with DeWanda Wise’s navigation robot. Jack McBrayer? Think overwhelmed, perpetually panicked, and somehow in the wrong quadrant. Their over-the-top preciouness is considered with absurdity to the max and is the reason Murderbot keeps hitting “play.”
“Let’s rule out the stereotype of good acting being some sort of austere repression. We are wired for drama! We act all the time, whether exaggerated sorrow in private, tantrums in the bathroom, or theatrical hand-wringing in front of the mirror. What interested me with this show was this wonderful paradox of having to immerse myself headfirst in this surreal Lynchian telenovela, but with a sci-fi twist-a wide berth for that inner “emoting maniac.” “
Finding the perfect actor to portray Murderbot, that endearingly cynical cyborg, was no simple feat. Part machine and part human, Murderbot deals with a thousand shades of human emotion, along with crippling social anxiety and an utter dislike for having his face revealed-a struggle so relatable that it resonated deeply within the neurodivergent community. Enter Alexander Skarsgård. From Viking prince inThe Northmanto cutthroat tech titan inSuccession, from Tarzan-swinging to downright cruelly manipulative husband inBig Little Lies, this oddly varied career somehow became a metaphor for the characteristics Paul and Chris felt needed to inhabit the tortured soul of their protagonist.
For the security robot, Paul Weisz describes Skarsgård, as one would imagine, having the allure of a contestant worthy of a calendar. “He could probably snap someone in half,” mused with a hint of awe in his voice. But much like the nuanced character he paints, behind this formidable front lies an interesting complexity. “Alexander has this wonderfully strange sense of humor. So there’s really a level of destruction- or disjunctiveness-between his physical presence and how his mind really unravels. He’s truly one of a kind.”
Bringing Cho and McBrayer on for the Sanctuary Moon sequences was almost the easiest thing in the world to pull off. Cho and the brothers Weitz had a history, with collaborative ventures gracing the landscape of numerous projects past, with the effect of the reunion feeling more like a welcome back than a recruitment.
“Talent securing is an art. Once somebody collaborates with us, we almost call their direct dial number ours,” Paul chuckled. “And with Jack McBrayer, it was Alexander who first opened the door for him-those two are inseparable. John is almost family. We started way back with ‘American Pie,’ and then woven him into about a dozen other projects. It’s a Godfather-style situation: you do us some favor, and maybe someday we call upon that favor.”
Apple
Seat of bg epic six-full month shoot tut 시작 in 2024-from the making of alien worlds from rather unlikely places. Forget clean locations, it was landscapes from Ontario’s gritty mining quarries, slag heaps, and abandoned factories. For a massive star base from the pilot called Port Freecommerce, its interior life was given to its incarnation on Toronto’s soundstages-the great ability of Ontario to turn the mundane into something cosmic.
Paul and Chris couldn’t be more opposed to the dark and cynical dystopian space opus, and they dreamed of a vibrant universe hardly ever seen in the worlds of sci-fi. Collaborating with production designer Sue Chan, they lit up their cosmos, building with stark whites and grays, draped with sheets of dazzling color, serving as their battleground for asserting that the future can be bright, loud, and beautiful.
Our childhood imaginations had been fueled by all those dog-eared sci-fi paperback books. Remember the cover designs of the 80s? Bold concepts with bright worlds one could immerse themself in. We wanted to have that feeling: a feeling of a dystopian future choked with corporate logos, a world where even the food was vomited onto the streets by giant 3D printers-a cheap-ass kind of existence that screamed commercialism, instant recognition of anything and everything.”
Forging Murderbot’s metallic shell was no one-man show. Costume director Carrie Grace and specialty costume designer Laura Jean Shannon led a creative huddle as they plunged deep into the cinematic robot archives. There was just one condition to their quest: to create something uncommonly unique. Early sketches leaned towards stormtroopers, but Alexander Skarsgård himself guided them away. Inspiration came from an unexpected quarter: Petey, the ring-eyed dog from The Little Rascals. This provided the impetus for Murderbot’s defining characteristic-the gargantuan black eye cast right into the visor of the helmet-a singularity amid the shiny army of clones.
Apple
Beneath Murderbot’s combat armor lies a secret: an unnervingly perfect physique, smooth as a Ken doll fresh out of the box. Actor Alexander Skarsgård tapped into that haunting perfection with countless waxing sessions done over his entire body, taking away his humanity and turning it…other.
“Alexander is such an excellent example of method acting; although he didn’t hesitate to get waxed, he actually advocated for the wax,” shared Chris. “I have a clear memory of our conversation. I warned him that perhaps the audience might not even register the difference. But Alexander was genuinely convinced that the smallest detail, like perfectly smooth skin, would enhance the verisimilitude of the character.”
“Some say he was Alexander, and with that bee in his bonnet, he says loud and proud: ‘I just want to wax it all off!’ Chris chuckled, setting down his pint. “Now, bless his heart for the next half year or so, there would be wax strips every single week! Torture for all that pain and smoothness… absolutely for nothing, because BAM! On to the next gig? The biker. Ahairybiker in the deathly serious romantic drama, Pillion. Talk about irony.”
Murderbot is fascinating in its own right; the authors Paul and Chris managed to distill an emotion into a living entity through their TV interpretation of Martha Wells’ world. Heroes? Please. This is the muffled clamor of a SecUnit who hates carrying the heroic mantle, desires white noise in its own company, and awkwardly connects with humanity.
Beneath Murderbot’s sarcastic circuits and weaponized chassis lies a surprising truth: a raw, beating heart. This isn’t just sci-fi escapism; it’s a reflection staring back at us from behind a screen, a vulnerable soul cleverly cloaked in armor, binge-watching its way to understanding humanity – and perhaps, itself.
With this stemmed from its being half-living and half-machinery, Murderbot had developed a cynical personality but never lost that glimmer of hope and conscience buried deep inside. This dimension and texture that kept it from becoming just another programmable homicidal machine make this bitter sweet Bildungsroman of the yet-to-be human so interesting to watch unfold.
Very often what most nail the reader’s mind is the very same truth Murderbot tries to bury out of sight with his boil-anthrax kind of humor-a sort of scab-healing so that he can keep our audience just a little further away.
Inverted from the usual premise of an artificial life form devoid of any emotion or soul and therefore evil by default, Murderbot is a sympathetic protagonist. Thanks to Martha Wells, he is knife-edged, sarcastic, vulnerable, and tender at one and the same time. Unlike the usual sterile, bloodless killer, Murderbot almost resembles a cowed dog-on the verge of being heartbroken.
Thanks for reading How Murderbot’s Chris and Paul Weitz adapted All Systems Red for TV
